The Meaning of Resurrection

                                                                                                                                 

Aloha Dearest Family,

Let me take you back to an afternoon in April of 28 A.D. On a mount outside of Jerusalem a crowd of people are gathered together to witness a sickening and heart-rending scene. The slow and agonizing death of a badly beaten and broken man, nailed to a tree. The Chief priests that are there jeer and laugh at him and the soldiers there to guard him are gambling for his clothes. He is dying the death of a vile criminal, and yet he has done nothing wrong. This man has spent almost all his time teaching the people and healing the sick. He has changed the lives of thousands. How could he be deserving of such a death as this?

As the day drags on, the sky becomes dark for hours. And as the man cries out and breathes out his last breath, the earth quakes and trembles causing the onlookers to cry out in fear. At the same time, the veil of the temple is torn in two from the top to the bottom. The separation between God and man is over.

This one act of love and obedience was the sole purpose for Jesus' life; to die on a tree. But the cross was meant for us. We deserved the full penalty for our sins. But he died in our place. He laid down his perfect life to win us eternal life. On that fateful day the prince of darkness thought that he had won. He had finally succeeded in killing the promised seed of Israel, the Messiah, the son of God. But God raised him from the dead. As the angel told the women at the tomb, 

"He is not here: for he is risen.." (Matthew 28:6a) 

When Jesus died, all of our sins died with him. When he was risen from the dead, he made a new kind of life available to us. We can now walk and live everyday in newness of life (Romans 6:4). We are now righteous in God's sight. We can live each day without any feelings of unworthiness, guilt or condemnation. For we have been justified and acquitted from all changes against us and brought into a right standing with God. We are now beloved sons and daughters, and God is our Abba, our daddy. This is the true meaning of "resurrection". It is not just the resurrection of Jesus. It is also ours. When he died, our old life died with him. When he was raised from the dead, we were raised with him. When he ascended to the Father, so did we. And we are now seated in the heavenlies with Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:5-6)

My worth today is not dependant upon what I do. It is dependant upon what Jesus Christ had already done. I live everyday in his victory!

Excerpts from One Solitary life

He never wrote a book.

He never held an office. He never owned a home.

He never went to college.

He never traveled more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born.

He never did any of the things that usually accompanies greatness.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of all human progress.

Of all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has this one solitary life.

Love Always, Ray